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Re: S-P-M what do you do?

Plenty of ideas here that will stop or delay swarming. Some promote good colony population for honey production, some don't. Much is dependent on where you keep bees. Break the country up into regions, and you can see how beekeepers' management changes by region. The intense flow, and the short bee season we have in Vermont requires different management than much of the southern half of the country with a long bee season but an early end to the flow when the weather turns hot. For me, early nectar management is crucial to swarm management. I tackle this by early supering for early flows like Maple leading into Dandelion, followed at Dandelion by reversing brood chambers, additional suppering, and removing queen cells when appropriate. My colonies have an unlimited broodnest, so as not to restrict the best of the queens. As I am in a good honey production area, in order to take advantage of early flows, I no longer split my strong colonies in the spring as a swarm management tool. Splitting colonies should be at the bottom of your list for swarm management. Keeping young queens in your hives also helps. In my opinion, some stocks use swarming as their re-queening method. These can be handled by re-queening.

But, as no one has mentioned what I feel as one of the most important factors in swarming, I will.

It's the bees. The propensity to swarm varies among honeybee stocks. This is not just a matter of race. Yes, we can most likely agree that in general, Carniolan and Caucasian bees will start swarm preparations before Italians. That Russians will go swarm crazy when the conditions are right, and what can you say about Africans. But the propensity to swarm also varies among all your stocks.

A low propensity to swarm can be selected for. Don't get me wrong...there will never be a non-swarming bee. Never. If your management allows you to identify those colonies that don't start swarm preparations at the drop of a hat, and your selection favors those stocks, you can reduce the swarming propensity so splitting your bees in the spring can be the last resort, and not the first.

I know what some are saying right about now. Perhaps the words of a bee master would reinforce what I'm trying to say....

But there are some colonies that will go through the whole season with never a grub in a queen-cell – possibly never an egg – and exactly those colonies are the ones most likely to give record yields. To interfere with their work, even for a week in a slight degree, is not desirable. There is also another important reason for allowing every colony willing to do so to go through the whole season without any preparation for swarming and without any interference. I am trying all the time to work at least a little toward a non-swarming strain of bee, and if all colonies were treated in advance how would I know which were the non-swarmers from which to choose my breeding stock? P. 190-191

Among the first things a beginner thinks he has learned is that destroying queen-cells will prevent swarming, and then he is sorely disappointed to find that he is mistaken about it. But I must confess that I have a good deal more faith in it than I formerly had. Not that I would for a minute trust to it as a sole means to prevent swarming. But I do know that in a good many cases it is efficient. Perhaps one cause of my change of view is the change in my bees. Breeding constantly for improvement in storing, and at the same time giving preference to those least inclined to swarm, it is possible that destroying cells has more effect than it formerly had. P. 191-192

Re: S-P-M what do you do?

Does that make number 5, whacking queen cells on the list? When we feel we have the list complete than maybe we can organize it based on goals so newbies can look at the list and decide what their first choice will be.

Re: S-P-M what do you do?

Originally Posted by Acebird

Does that make number 5, whacking queen cells on the list? When we feel we have the list complete than maybe we can organize it based on goals so newbies can look at the list and decide what their first choice will be.

Re: S-P-M what do you do?

Originally Posted by Acebird

Does that make number 5, whacking queen cells on the list?

No it doesn't, if that's all you do. Simply cutting queen cells is not the answer. When combined with other manipulations, it can end a colony's swarming. I allow those colonies with a higher propensity to swarm to show their hand, so I can eliminate them from my breeding program. But, bynthe time they show it, I've already done some of my control like early supering.

Re: S-P-M what do you do?

No. The main practice is to give the bees enough room in the BROOD NEST.

The first mistake people make about preventing swarms is they think you can just throw on some supers and they won't swarm. But they will. Yes, it's nice to have room for them to store the honey, so the supers are helpful, but the bees intend to swarm and the supers will not deter them from the plan to do a reproductive swarm.

Back to the sequence in the Spring, the bees, during winter, rear little spurts of brood. The queen lays a little and they start rearing that batch, but they don't start any new brood until that brood emerges and they take a break. Then they rear another little batch. When pollen starts coming in they start to rear more brood to build up. They also start using up the honey they have stored. This is used to feed brood and also it makes room for more brood.

When the bees think they have enough bees they start filling all of that back in with honey, both to stop the queen from laying, and to have adequate stores in case the main flow doesn't pan out. As the brood nest gets backfilled it makes more and more unemployed nurse bees. These nurse bees start doing a keening buzz that is quite different from the typical harmonious buzz you usually hear. More of a warble. Once the brood nest is mostly full of honey they start swarm cells. About the time they get capped the old queen leaves with a large number of bees. Even if you catch the swarm, the hive has still stopped brood production and has lost (to the swarm) a lot of bees. It's doubtful it will make honey. If there are still enough bees, the hive will throw afterswarms with virgin queens heading them.

Re: S-P-M what do you do?

Originally Posted by Acebird

Does that make number 5, whacking queen cells on the list?

The problem with that is that newbees don't always understand the nuisances of what Michael Palmer was suggesting, nor do they have the vast experiences to "read" a colony and take appropriate measures to prevent swarming. I urge newbees never to simply whack q-cells, and certainly not as their only measure of swarm prevention. Whacking q-cells is time consuming as not every queen cell is going to be hanging off the bottom bar, particularly for those who use foundationless frames.

Re: S-P-M what do you do?

Originally Posted by Roland

Between 300 and 400, depends what day you ask. I can not say there was only one swarm, we can only be in one spot at a time, but with our record keeping, there is no reason to believe there where a significant number of swarms.

Roland,

How does the approach that you use work for those who don't have drawn comb. That is, can you simply back-fill with foundation when you hang up the brood frame?